Wow. What to say.
For anyone in Cub-land who lives in a cave or doesn’t have electricity, the Cubs announced Tuesday that Mike Quade would indeed be retaining his job as manager. Not, as many believed, losing it to HOF 2B Ryne Sandberg.
Many Cubs fans wanted an answer sooner rather than later, but as always, Cubs fans should be careful what they wish for.
I didn't think in 102 years this was how it would happen. I'm pretty sure my Las Vegas ticket would have looked more like this:
1. Joe Girardi (only if he was interested and GM Jim Hendry offered ...

There’s Always Next Year: Intro
With catcher arguably the most important position on the diamond, the Cubs seem to have found a solid foundation for the future—hopefully.
Geovany Soto proved that he certainly had the talent to repeat and even build upon his rookie campaign after that came into question in the 2009 season.
There is no doubt Soto can hit. The question for the upcoming season—and seasons beyond—is whether or not Soto can stay healthy. Catcher is no doubt the most physically taxing position to field, and the ability to stay healthy is always a crapshoot.
That said, Soto has run into injury ...

According to a source on ESPN, Joe Girardi and the New York Yankees have reached agreement on a three-year contract that will pay him $3 million per season with a $500,000 bonus for winning the World Series.
According to the report, Girardi never even considered joining the Cubs as manager. He apparently told Yanks' GM Brian Cashman in August that he wouldn't leave such a good thing in New York for Chicago, despite this being his home.
Unofficially, my sources tell me that Jim Hendry was never interested in Girardi anyway, but that owner Tom Ricketts wanted Hendry to hold off on a manager ...

The Cubs have chosen Mike Quade over Ryne Sandberg as their new manager. Let me be clear that I have nothing in particular against Mike Quade other than that, as I have noted in an earlier piece, he is Jim Hendry's guy. In fact, the team did well for the six weeks he managed them, and I do wish him well. We need to be clear, however, about what just happened and what it probably bodes for the future.Actually, you have to hand it to Hendry. He may not be much of ...

The score was 3-2 in favor of the Yankees. There were two on and two out for one of the most feared hitters in the game today, Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers.
The Rangers led the series two games to one, so this was a critical at-bat for the Yankees and their underachieving pitcher A.J. Burnett.
Hamilton hit a pop foul down the left field line—and then it happened.
As Yankee left fielder Brett Gardner closed on the ball, he was quickly running out of room. As he got to the wall and was reaching up to make the catch, a fan ...

The Cubs are in the worst possible situation for any sports franchise to be in. That is, they are stuck in between rebuilding and contending.
Look, they simply have too many long-term, expensive contracts to totally rebuild and they do not have the major league-ready young talent to commit to a rebuilding.
The players who alleged owner Tom Ricketts are touting really come down to one player, and that is Starlin Castro. Everyone else is either years away or over-hyped.
Tyler Colvin is a nice fourth outfielder. Sure, he hit 20 homers but he had an OBP of .316 and he struck out ...

This time it's official. Mike Quade is the manager, not interim manager, of the Chicago Cubs.
Reactions so far have been nearly dichotomous. Either it's a refreshing move that rewards experience over celebrity, or it's a horrible move that spurns a legend. It should come as no shock that I find myself in the former camp, but I do understand the reservations of those who question the perspicacity of such a move.
Quade has only managed 37 big league games and, although the team performed well under his direction, those games came when wins and losses were basically meaningless. Also, having spent his entire playing ...

In between games of the NLCS and ALCS, there have been a couple of managerial moves around baseball. Let’s take a look at the managerial happenings around the majors.
St. Louis Cardinals Bring Back Tony LaRussa
The Cardinals announced on Monday that LaRussa, or TLR as all the cool kids say, signed a one-year contract for 2011 with a mutual option for 2012. Every keeper league owner who has Colby Rasmus just kicked a wall.
As I have always thought, the key to a LaRussa-managed team isn’t LaRussa, but pitching coach Dave Duncan. Duncan was offered a contract but has not signed ...

With the announcement of Mike Quade as the new manager of the Chicago Cubs, the organization has finally done the impossible. They have taken away all hope from fans of the team and the promise of "Wait Until Next Year."
Most of us already assumed it would never happen in our lifetimes, but they just hammered the final nail in the coffin for fans of the North Side ballclub.
I feel like one of the vampires on True Blood, destined to live in darkness forever, or at least for how much time I have left on this planet. Unlike them, a stake through the heart or ...

The announcement today that Mike Quade would return as Cubs manager and be given a two year contract with a team option for a third year, is not all that surprising. But it is disappointing.
While the reports are saying that Quade has had the interim label removed from his title, in essence any coach or manager in every sport is interim. They are all hired to be fired. Heck, truth be told, as humans we are all interim.
But the choice of Quade is a slap in the face of Ryne Sandberg. No, not because he has some unalienable right to ...